


Green

by TheTartWitch



Category: Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types
Genre: Aromantic Character, Asexual Character, Gen, Genderfluid Character, Haruhi will not take your shit, Kyouya's Assistant Haruhi, M/M, NOT a host
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-28 22:18:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7658959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTartWitch/pseuds/TheTartWitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haruhi is just looking for a quiet place to study. Running into Ootori-sempai was unforeseen but welcome.<br/>The Host Club? Better than it looks.</p><p>Please check the pairings. Haruhi will NOT be pairing up with anyone, because for one I didn't like the anime's ending and two, I've got no patience for romance right now. Thank you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Green

**Author's Note:**

> This will be going episode by episode, as I watch. Some chapters will be super short, some might be longer, but really this is just written for my Haruhi fix. Not enough Haruhi in my life, even re-watching the anime and reading almost all the fics here about my girl.  
> The ending is going to be totally different. I'm not sure how yet, but I didn't like that episode anyway, as I've already said, but I also don't know exactly how much I want to change. So.

Haruhi's not sure what he's expecting; certainly not the pink monstrosity that lies before him. He glances at the student council member giving him the tour of the grounds for a moment ( _brown hair, shoulder length; glasses, wire frame; uniform is slightly wrinkled along the hem, walking habits could be neater?_ ) before looking away, back at the sun that's rising in the edge of the sky. 

 _O_ _uran is going to be something different from middle school_ , he thinks, shakes his head, and smiles when the girl walking in front of him asks if something is wrong.  _This place is going to be my new start._  

\-- 

It's a bit like he's expecting, and also nothing at all like he was expecting. The school is rowdy, with students bustling at all hours, supporting and uplifting the inter-school politics everyone here seems to love so much, and Haruhi finds himself slipping into a schedule of  _homeroomstudyclassworkstudyhomeback_  that he had near the entrance exams he took at the very end of last school year. He doesn’t mind the noise; no one is approaching him directly, instead choosing to flit around him and gossip behind manicured fingers. He doesn’t think he'd stand out so much if he'd been able to afford either one of the uniforms before term began, but he'd needed the money for school supplies and the like, and uniforms had cost so much but hadn't exactly been  _essential_  to maintaining school life, if that made sense. 

All three of the libraries ( _extravagant_ ) are occupied, and unnecessarily noisy to boot, so he turns tail and heads for the silent wing of music rooms. The first one he opens immediately dumps a shocking amount of wasted rose petals in his face. He spits one into his palm and gapes a little at the group of students in front of him.  

"I thought this was a music room," he says, seeing that a blonde one is about to speak. "I didn’t realize it was already in use. My apologies, I'll -" he pauses, noticing a boy he recognizes. "Ootori Kyouya-sempai?" 

The room swivels to the one in question, who merely pushes his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, letting the glare of the room's lights reflect off of them. "Fujioka Haruhi-kun, isn't it?" He asks, voice cool and clipped. Haruhi instinctively straightens. 

"I've heard you have some of the best grades in our school, sempai. Is there anywhere you'd suggest I check for prime studying spots?" He does his best not to seem as though he's flattering the older boy; no one truly smart appreciates the gesture, so it's useless to waste the effort. Kyouya's staring at him in well-concealed surprise anyway. 

"You're welcome to use our back table," he supposes after a moment of thought. "Despite the constant activity, our club room is actually quite peaceful."  

Haruhi bows shallowly. "Thank you, sempai. I believe that will be acceptable in terms of usefulness." 

The others gaze on, baffled slightly, but neither of the two offer explanations. 

 **\--**  

"I have to say," one of the twins begins, "when you first came to our club room -" 

"-we totally got the gay vibes off you," finishes the second, linking elbows with the first. "But now," 

"We're not so sure. Do you" 

"Like boys or girls?" 

Haruhi sighs and glances up. Her glasses are slipping a bit, so she pushes them up and watches the way the twins' orange hair bounces a bit as they give their charming smile. "This can't wait until I'm finished with studying?" She asks, tugging on the sleeve of her sweater. Today's is an ugly beige, but it's a warm color, more comforting than the whimsical yellows or flamboyant blues of the girls and boys uniforms respectively. It's been a week of sheltering herself at the back table and absorbing herself in figuring out this equation, or why that word fits this way into that sentence but not the other, of sitting and feeling the club's eyes but never speaking to anyone but Ootori-sempai, who had most definitely earned her respect. 

"No," pouts one of the twins into her right shoulder as they lean forward, much too close for her to relax fully.  

She ponders the room for a little, hoping for something interesting to happen, but knows that there's very little that can distract the two when something catches their attention. "I haven't figured that out yet. At the moment, I don’t think I like either. It's tiring, paying attention to all that, when it's never really mattered to me much anyway."  

They stare at her for a little while, mulling this over, but she doesn’t have much time for mulling what with the upcoming test in geometry. The list of formulas she needs to memorize takes precedence to whatever midlife crisis the twins are preparing to have. 

\-- 

Apparently, as evidenced by the male uniform Haruhi is currently wearing, his usual style of dress has been offending the self-proclaimed prince to unheard-of heights, resulting in a gift.  

"Hm," says Haruhi, glancing at himself in the mirror. He doesn’t much care what it looks like, truthfully, but gifts are to be respected and to look frumpy in something given to him goes against his moral code. "I suppose it looks alright. I'd like to keep my glasses, though," he murmurs, lifting a hand to shield them from Suoh-sempai's questing fingers. 

"Ohhhh," groans the blonde, "but you'd look so good!" 

Haruhi smiles tightly, trying not to let his irritation with the boy's frivolities shine through on his face.  

"Looks don’t matter to me,sempai," he says shortly, before taking a quick deep breath when the other boy pouted. "However, if it means so much to you, I will wear contacts for the next club meeting." 

Suoh-sempai grins extraordinarily wide and grabs Haruhi's arm, prepared to steer him from the dressing room. Haruhi doesn’t let him get three steps before side-kicking him in the shin and making a run for his studying table.  

"Ootori-sempai," he says when he gets there, polite and courteous without fawning. "I believe after weeks of watching I have figured out how the club works. As a thank-you, you may use my time after studying for anything you might require."  

Ootori-sempai's eyes narrow a bit. Haruhi thinks for a second, before replying, "the Ootori family has just paid for my new uniform, have they not? After calculating the costs versus time in which this money could have been earned, I have determined that I owe you almost a month and a half of labor for your services. Is this satisfactory?" 

Ootori-sempai studies him a little, eyes gleaming through his glasses like a snake, before nodding once. "Yes," he says, "that would be satisfactory. Will you be needing the other uniform as well?" 

Haruhi considers this, taking in how comfortable the male uniform is and the rather disturbing shade of yellow covering the poor girls that frequented the host club. 

"Probably," he says, knowing that he's agreeing to another month and a half of work without even really considering the ramifications, but he doesn’t mind. It'll be nice to feel happy with his own skin while at school. The people here are pretty understanding, so it's not like anyone would give him shit for it.  

\-- 

She's standing in the corner, watching them harrass some other poor first-year. Ootori-sempai hasn't yet given her the new female uniform he agreed to bring; probably just because he's been distracted by the boy floundering by the exit. She winces when the boy spots her;  

" _Fujioka-_ _san_ _?!_ " He gawks. "Um, I thought – why are you in that uniform?" 

As one, the Host Club turns to her. She sighs. "Ryouhiro-san, I am in this uniform because it pertains to this school. If this school used a different uniform, that is what I would be wearing." 

"Ah," says Ootori-sempai, walking quietly over to the wall, where a clothing bag is leaning. "My apologies, Fujioka-kun." She accepts the bag after chancing a look inside. As expected, it's the female school uniform.  

"I-I meant no offence, Fujioka-san," Ryouhiro-san flusters, his face coloring. When Haruhi nods and turns away to change, he stares longingly after her. The twins glance at each other, smirking, before looping arms around Ryouhiro-san's neck.  

"Someone's got a crush!" They grin at him evilly. "You haven't got a chance, though. Haruhi-chan's not into guys, you know!" 

Ryouhiro-san colors, but then he looks up and spots Haruhi peering at him and outright blushes.  

"That's an impressive shade of red, Hiitachin-san and Hiitachin-san," Haruhi compliments, turning back towards the changing rooms and her bag. She doesn’t need to wear it immediately; better to check the fitting before wearing it in public. "I'll be right back," she tosses over her shoulder as she walks away. Ootori-sempai doesn’t bother with a reply; he's watching the proceedings with the air of a man recording everything for later blackmail.  

\-- 

In the end,Ryouhiro-san agrees (under obvious duress) to join the Host Club. He's to be the 'sweet and bashful' host, and Haruhi would be fine with that (she has no interest in hosts or anything of the sort), but once he's firmly in the club and being tortured daily by the twins and the others, he seems to believe that Haruhi has some sort of controlling power over the dramatic beasts that are Ouran High School's Host Club.  

"Fujioka-san, why haven't they dragged you into being a host?" He asks once, in the very beginning. "You're good-looking enough that you'd get lots of girls requesting you, right? So why haven't they grabbed you too?" 

Haruhi is in the middle of a set of a stack of worksheets assigned by Ootori-sempai. It's club work, so she feels she's allowed to talk while she does it. "Because they understand the order of things. I'm only in this club room because the libraries are used for socializing, something that holds no appeal to me, and Ootori-sempai was generous enough to offer me the use of this room. In terms of mental willpower, he comes first, then me, then Morinozuka-sempai, then Haninozuka-sempai, then the twins, and then Suoh-sempai." She turns to fix Ryouhiro-san with a bland look. "Do you understand? You allowed them to drag you into this, so don’t go attempting to draw their attention to me."  

He's absolutely scarlet. The twins whistle with admiration from a nearby couch. "Jeez, Haru-chan, you don’t mess around!" They sidle up behind Ryouhiro-san and giggle in his ear. "Haru-chan's our diligent mascot and toy, Hiro-chan, so don’t mess around! And you know Kyo-chan would be sad to lose his favorite assistant." 

"Is no one going to mention how I was last on that list?!" Suoh-sempai cries, languishing in a corner. Haruhi's just glad none of his customers are here to see it; no doubt they'd lose business from his childish antics. Ootori-sempai finds it amusing, so he allows it when the girls aren't around, but Haruhi's a little less accepting of the way he cries into her pants-leg. 

"Well, it's true, boss," the twins chorus, raising their palms and glancing at each other. _What can you do?_   

\-- 

Ayanokoji-hime is annoying, showing him 'kindness' in the hallways and acting shocked when he doesn’t bow and kiss her feet. "A commoner should know his place!" She hisses once, and then pales when she sees him standing beside Kyouya (as he's been told to call his benefactor) and smiles a little shakily. 

"I don’t think we've been formally introduced," he says politely, offering his hand, and when he smiles back at her he notices the twins taking immediate notice. Their eyes narrow in thought, and he pretends to laugh at a joke she's made, already having regained some of her confidence. 

The rest of the meeting goes similarly. He's almost chillingly polite, maintaining verbal distance and seating himself only as close as polite societal customs demanded. She twittered nervously at every clever thing he said, though most of them were veiled insults or derogatory euphemisms. He sat, still as stone, as she fumbled her way through a story about her father's handling of someone attempting to deal trade secrets (or something of that nature, he was busy doing paperwork in his head when she started in on that tirade), and when it became time for her session to end, she smirked at him and said mockingly, "well, I suppose I shall request you again," before swinging out the door.  

"Who's she, Haru-chan?" The twins were there almost immediately, pouncing on the overgrown brat's chair and speaking in double.  

"Ayanokoji-hime," he answered dully. "She's a brat. An overgrown, rich brat. She's trying to get me to acknowledge her in public and show that I concede to her." He smirked to himself and rose from his chair. "I think the surprise will be ready by tomorrow, so I'd better go help out and get home to set it up."  

The twins watch him stalk off and grin. "Haru-chan's evil," said one. 

"Yep," said the other. "Isn't it the best?" 

\-- 

As usual, the next morning Haruhi reports directly to the club room. Kyouya pauses when he sees her, studies the way she's made subtle size adjustments to the hem and bodice. "Acceptable," he says, and she nods. As long as he doesn’t mind her working in it, she doesn’t much care what people say.  

Mori seems to consider her for a moment, but then Honey comes in and squeals and Mori just grunts a little as she explains that today she'd felt like wearing a dress.  

"It looks cute!" Honey burbles, clutching her arm and holding up Usa-chan in comparison. "Do you think Usa-chan might want a dress, too?"  

"I think it's up to Usa-chan," Haruhi tells him gravely. She doesn’t mind letting him clamber up to her hip and latch on like a burr; he's never felt the need for it to be awkward, even when she's a boy, so she doesn’t either. Mori hovers instinctively, but she doesn’t think he believes Honey's actually going to fall; it's probably more of a codependency thing. Maybe more, if she's been reading Mori's expressions and body language correctly.  

"We want to be there -" says one twin from behind her, and 

"When you show the king," the other finishes.  

She nods, checks to make sure her hold on Honey is secure, and goes to find Suoh-sempai.  

He's with Ryouhiro-san by the entrance, probably plotting some other vacation-style renovations of the club room, but when he sees her over Ryouhiro-san's shoulder his jaw drops and he freezes in place. Ryouhiro-san blinks a little, confused, before turning and blushing so hard he wobbles, looking close to fainting from all the blood in his head. "Jeez," he says when he's able, "you look very nice, Fujioka-san, but I'm not sure I understand the occasion." 

They drag Suoh-sempai to a couch and watch as his soul tries to escape from his mouth for a little while, waiting for Ryouhiro-san's blood to settle back down into the rest of his body.  

"Sometimes," Haruhi says, letting Honey sit on her lap and Mori stand behind her at the arm of the couch, "I'm a girl on the inside, and sometimes I'm a boy. Sometimes when I'm a boy I don’t mind wearing women's clothes, and when I'm a girl I don’t mind wearing a suit or the male uniform. Clothes are clothes, and even if sometimes I like something on a certain day doesn’t mean it determines  _who_ I am that day." She fixes Ryouhiro-san with a look. "Kyouya has agreed to anything I should choose to wear, so long as it does not interfere with my ability to do my job." 

"Sounds like Kyouya," Ryouhiro-san said nervously, and then, "I'm very sorry, but I've been curious this whole time, and you don’t have to answer, but – what did they write on your birth certificate?" 

She raises an eyebrow. "I think, instead of answering that question we instead focus on the fact that since you didn’t find out immediately when we met, I don’t plan to tell people. Doesn’t that just make everyone focus on how I'm acting 'different from how I'm supposed to be', and not just see me?" 

Honey nods belligerently. "You are absolutely right, Haru-chan!" He crows, shaking Usa-chan in a victory dance.  

Kyouya and the twins are standing just behind her, she realizes, and Kyouya is adjusting his glasses, which always means trouble. "Any and all members are welcome to whatever makes them comfortable here, Ryouhiro-kun. This of course extends to Fujioka-san as well, as she" (he turns to her for affirmation, and she nods) "is a part-timer helping with the club's finances." 

"If it helps," she adds, nodding to him again, "I could figure out some sort of signal to let you know how it's swinging each day. A yellow or blue marker in a cup or something in the back room."  

"Anything you feel comfortable with, Fujioka-san," Kyouya says again, and re-adjusts his glasses despite the fact that they haven't moved since he last did it. 

She can't wait to see Ayanokoji-hime's face when she requests Haruhi for the host club that afternoon...

\--

**Author's Note:**

> No, I don't detail Haruhi's utter defeat of Ayanokoji-hime because just imagine:  
> The table between them.  
> Haruhi's pretend-oblivious smiling face, Ayanokoji-hime's horror and then nervousness.  
> The end of Ayanokoji-hime's visits for a while while she researches and thinks.
> 
> Also, I had an idea of male!Haruhi who crossdresses and is older than the Club members, who graduated from Ouran and works with Ranka sometimes, finding the Club outside his doorstep when it's raining, bringing them inside (and they're all totally convinced he's a woman), feeding them something, and then changing clothes and relaxing as a dude while they wait for his 'sister' to come out of the bathroom. They keep meeting places with him dressed as a woman until they realize, and he's a total charmer of anybody he needs to charm because he's got the skills to pay the bills, even if he couldn't care less about dating or any of that. What do you think? Should I maybe give it a shot?


End file.
